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Intro
Mr. Mahmood, the manager of a sports shop in London, thinks back to a troublesome day at work a few weeks ago. Dedicated to keeping his store tidy, Mr. Mahmood is busy arranging inventory while his employee Deidra works the cash register and his other employee Cedric helps a 13-year-old boy find new running shoes. Mr. Mahmood knows that his meticulous nature sometimes puts his employees on edge, and he wonders if he learned this trait from his wife, Isobel. As the young boy tries on a pair of shoes, another boy calls Cedric for help. The first boy slips out of the shop, still wearing the shoes.
Realizing the boy is trying to shoplift, Mr. Mahmood chases him into the street. He remembers his time as a student athlete. When he was 17, Mr. Mahmood broke many county track and field records. But at one meet, his team wasn’t able to qualify, and he never competed again.
When Mr. Mahmood catches up with the boy, he’s appalled when the boy shows no remorse and even seems bored. Frustrated, Mr. Mahmood lifts a hand, ready to strike him. Thankfully, Cedric and Deidra calm him down, and Mr. Mahmood leaves work early. He drives to the supermarket to pick up sea bass and white wine for Isobel, wanting to surprise her but also needing to keep his hands occupied to distract himself from the guilt of almost hitting the boy. When Isobel comes home, she immediately senses that something is wrong, but Mr. Mahmood doesn’t want to tell her what happened. Eventually, he tells her about the boy and how he lost his temper at him, and Isobel responds that she thinks his emotional response is normal. A little drunk from drinking the white wine, Mr. Mahmood doesn’t know how to take his wife’s words. He tells her that he wants to go for a drive.
Isobel, who didn’t have anything to drink, drives them to a hill where they can take a walk. Mr. Mahmood reflects on how their marriage must have disappointed her parents, whom he assumes wanted Isobel to marry rich. While Mr. Mahmood believes that he and Isobel get along well and are comfortable with one another, he worries that Isobel is thinking about having children again, which he doesn’t know if he can handle. He thinks back to the day an Olympian athlete visited his shop with his son. Seeing them made him feel weak, and he left work, taking a random bus until he arrived at a park. There was a track at the park, and Mr. Mahmood decided to run a lap around it. When he finished, a few children cheered him on. He wondered if he had failed at life or wasted it, then decided that the one certainty he has is his wife.
